The US health secretary offered an upbeat assessment yesterday of African efforts to fight the Aids virus, as he wrapped up a four-nation tour of the continent, but cautioned that a great deal still remains to be done.

“Many of the programmes are very effective, but there's much more to do,” Tommy Thompson, who visited Zambia, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda over the past week at the head of a roughly 100-member delegation, told reporters during a brief stop on his journey back to the US.

In Zambia, where the delegation of US health officials, lawmakers and business marked World Aids Day, Thompson signed a $6,39-million grant on behalf of the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria to help the country fight the pandemic. He also pledged $2,5-million in assistance from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention for HIV prevention and monitoring.

In Kenya, Thompson was present as nine major international companies, with operations in Africa, launched a project to expand HIV treatment and prevention programmes.

In Uganda, the group travelled to the village of Tororo to see a programme that helps bring medicine to people in remote areas.

US President George W Bush recently pledged $15-billion in funding over five years to fight HIV/Aids and appointed Randall L Tobias as US global Aids coordinator to oversee the funds.

Thompson said about $2,5-billion of the money will be made available this year.

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to more than 26-million of the 40-million people worldwide living with HIV. Only about 1% have access to life-prolonging drugs, widely available in wealthier countries.

“Africans are ready, willing and able to fight Aids – they just need more help from developed nations,” said Julie Gerberding, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, who travelled with Thompson.

Gerberding said she had been impressed with many people's level of knowledge on HIV/Aids, but noted some shortcomings in treatment of the disease.

In one case, she said, a Kenyan hospital was able to identify expectant mothers with the Aids virus and prescribe medicine that would help prevent it being transmitted to the baby – but had no system in place to ensure that mothers actually took the drugs.

Other members of Thompson's delegation included Senator Don Nickles, an Oklahoma Republican who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, and Richard Holbrooke, a former US ambassador to the United Nations and now president of the Global Business Coalition for HIV/Aids. – Sapa-AP.